EU action against disinformation

The EU presented on 5 December an Action Plan to step up efforts to counter disinformation in Europe and beyond.

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What has the EU done so far to counter disinformation?

Disinformation– i.e. verifiably false or misleading information that
is created, presented and disseminated for economic gain or to
intentionally deceive the public - distorts public debate, undermines
citizens' trust in institutions and media, and even destabilises
democratic processes such as elections. 73% of internet users in the EU
are concerned about disinformation in pre-election periods. Given its
cross-border dimension, the adverse effects of disinformation in the
European Union require a coordinated and long-term approach to respond
to the challenge at both EU and national level.

In 2015, after the European Council's call to address the ongoing disinformation campaigns by Russia, the East Stratcom Task Force
was created in the European External Action Service (EEAS). To date,
the Task Force has catalogued, analysed and raised awareness of over
4,500 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation, and significantly improved
understanding of the tools, techniques and intentions of disinformation
by Russian sources. In close cooperation with European Commission
services, it has also substantially improved the effectiveness of EU
communications in the Eastern Neighbourhood.

The Commission put forward a European approach for tackling online disinformation in its Communication of April 2018,
seeking to promote a more transparent, trustworthy and accountable
online environment. The Communication proposed measures to tackle
disinformation online, including a self-regulatory EU-wide Code of
Practice on Disinformation, signed by large online platforms and the
advertising industry, as well as support for an independent network of
fact-checkers. The Communication also stressed the need to ensure secure
and resilient election processes, to foster education and media
literacy, and to support quality journalism. The Commission also called
for a strengthening of strategic communications.

On 12 September 2018, the Commission set out measures to secure free and fair European elections,
including greater transparency in online political advertisements and
the possibility to impose sanctions for the illegal use of personal data
in order to deliberately influence the outcome of the European
elections.

Building on these efforts, the EU has today presented an Action Plan
with additional measures to counter disinformation and is reporting on
the progress so far in tackling online disinformation.

1. Action Plan against Disinformation

What does this Action Plan propose and why? How does it complement existing initiatives?

The Action Plan proposes a set of actions that should further enable a joint and coordinated EU approach to addressing disinformation.

To step up the EU's response to disinformation, the Action Plan focuses on four pillars:

Improving the capabilities of the Union's institutions to detect, analyse and expose disinformation;

Strengthening coordinated and joint responses by EU institutions and Member States to disinformation;

The European Commission and the High Representative will develop and
implement these actions, in close cooperation with Member States and the
European Parliament.

With six months left before the European elections, how timely is the Action Plan?

Very timely. The Action Plan sets out a number of concrete actions
and all actors are expected to coordinate and work together as a matter
of priority to maximise the EU's preparedness ahead of the European
elections in May 2019. In that sense, it complements the actions the
Commission announced in the September 2018 with its Communication on Securing free and fair European elections and the April 2018 Communication on Tackling online disinformation.
The EU institutions have already built an internal network against
disinformation and are in parallel working on strengthening their
strategic communication capacities.

What resources does the Commission plan to allocate for the implementation of these actions?

The EEAS' strategic communication budget to address disinformation
and raise awareness about its adverse impact is expected to more than
double, from €1.9 million in 2018 to €5 million in 2019. This will also
be accompanied by a reinforcement of staff (an increase of 50-55 staff
member is planned over the next two years).

This represents an important step, as the East Stratcom Task Force
of the EEAS, while created in 2015, received dedicated resources only
in 2018 when a budget of €1.1 million was allocated under the 2018
Preparatory Action: 'StratCom Plus', proposed by the European
Parliament. In addition, €800,000 were allocated to the EEAS for
strategic communication.

This first dedicated budget for the disinformation work allows for a
more professional and technical monitoring of the information space in
the Eastern Partnership countries and of Russian media (operating in
Russia and beyond). Combining a qualitative approach with a quantitative
one in detecting emerging trends in relation to the EU and its
policies, the Action provides: wider geographic and language coverage of
media monitoring; systematic data monitoring and analysis; and inputs
from experts on disinformation in the Eastern Partnership region.

In addition, in its proposal for Horizon Europe programme
(2021-2027), the Commission has foreseen funding for the development of
new tools to combat online disinformation; to better understand the role
of journalistic standards and user-generated content; and to support
next generation internet applications and services including immersive
and trustworthy media, social media and social networking. So far around
€40 million have been invested in EU projects in the area.

The Commission also proposed a dedicated budget of €61 million under
the next Creative Europe programme to support journalism, media freedom,
media pluralism and media literacy.

What role does the Action Plan envisage for the EU Member States?

The Action Plan sets out key actions to tackle disinformation in a
coordinated approach among the EU institutions and in cooperation with
the Member States. The Plan calls for the strengthening of cooperation
in detecting, analysing and exposing disinformation campaigns, and in
raising awareness about the negative impact of disinformation. Among
others, it includes proposals that Member States designate national
contact points that would participate in the Rapid Alert System. The
Rapid Alert System would facilitate common situational awareness and a
coordinated response. Complementary to EU institutions' efforts, Member
States should raise awareness of the negative impact of disinformation
and support the work of independent media, fact-checkers and
investigative journalists, including through the creation of
multidisciplinary teams with specific knowledge about local information
environments.

What is the Rapid Alert System and how will it work?

When democracy in one Member State is under attack, European
democracy as a whole is under attack. A strong European response
requires Member States and EU institutions to work together much more
closely, and to help each other understand and confront the threat. The
Rapid Alert System will build on a secure digital platform, where Member
States can share information on ongoing foreign disinformation
campaigns with one another, and coordinate responses. The Rapid Alert
System will be based on open-source and unclassified information only,
and will exclusively focus on coordinated attempts by foreign actors to
manipulate free and open debate. In view of setting up the Rapid Alert
System by March 2019, each Member State should designate a contact
point, ideally positioned within strategic communication departments.

Does the EU plan to coordinate its actions with international actors or fora, for example NATO or G7?

Cooperation on threat analysis and situational awareness with NATO is
ongoing. G7 partners are in the process of establishing a Rapid
Response Mechanism to reinforce the defences of democracies. The
Commission and the High Representative will continue regular exchanges
of information with key partners in the framework of ongoing
staff-to-staff cooperation. This will also be used to promote
information exchange and best practices.

What will the Commission do to improve the media literacy of online users?

As part of the Media Literacy Week in March 2019, in cooperation with
the Member States, the Commission will support cross-border cooperation
amongst media literacy practitioners as well as the launch of practical
tools for the promotion of media literacy to the public. The Action
Plan also calls upon Member States to ensure a rapid and effective
implementation of the provisions of the Audio-visual Media Services
Directive concerning media literacy.

What are the Action plan and the EU doing to support the media?

The Commission supports quality news media and journalism as an essential element of a democratic society. As confirmed in the progress report, the Commission wants to enhance transparency and predictability of State aid rules for the media sector; it also launched a call
of about €1.9 million for production and dissemination of quality news
content, which is still ongoing. To favour quality journalism, media
freedom, media literacy and media pluralism, the Commission proposed a
dedicated budget in the 2021-2027 Creative Europe,
addressing the structural changes faced by the media sector. Finally,
the Commission co-funds, together with initiatives of the European
Parliament, independent projects in the field of media freedom and
pluralism. These projects, among other actions, monitor risks to media
pluralism across Europe, map violations to media freedom, fund
cross-border investigative journalism and support journalists under
threat.

What is the role of the European network of fact-checkers in tackling online disinformation?

Fact-checkers are essential in tackling disinformation. They verify
and assess the veracity of content based on facts and evidence thus
helping the information ecosystem to be cleaner and more robust. The
Commission aims to foster the cooperation between European fact-checkers
and therefore supports the creation of a network of European
fact-checkers. The fact-checking community will define the prerequisites
for membership in the coming months. The network will be editorially
independent. Regarding the online platform to connect fact-checkers and
researchers, an initial funding of €2.5 million under the Connected
Europe Facility instrument (CEF) is foreseen.

As a first step, the Commission will offer online tools to
fact-checkers to enable their collaboration. As a second step, the
Commission will deploy a secure European online platform on
disinformation. This will offer cross-border data collection, analysis
tools and access to EU-wide data, in support of cooperation between the
fact-checking community and academics working on the problem of online
disinformation.

2. Code of Practice

What is the role foreseen for the industry, e.g. social media platforms, advertisers or the advertising industry?

Industry has a very important role to play in effectively tackling
this problem, mainly due to the use of new technologies and social media
to spread, target and amplify disinformation. In October, main online
companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter and Mozilla) signed a Code of Practice
committing themselves to a number of actions ahead of European
elections. The Action Plan underlines that they should immediately
ensure the transparency of political advertising, take decisive action
against fake accounts and identify automated bots and label them
accordingly. The Action Plan also urges the platforms to cooperate with
national contact points on disinformation and with fact checkers to help
effectively fight disinformation. Their full commitment to the Code of
Practice and the swift and effective implementation of key measures is
important for granting safe and fair elections and secure a more
transparent online environment.

How will the Commission monitor the implementation of the Code of Practice signed by online platforms and adverting sector?

The Commission will ask the signatories for up-to-date information
about measures taken towards the implementation of the Code by the end
of 2018 and will publish this information in January 2019. Moreover,
beginning in January, platforms should provide complete information,
including by replying to Commission's specific requests, on how are they
are implementing the commitments on a monthly basis. In the autumn, the
Commission will carry out a targeted monitoring of the implementation
of the Code on a monthly basis. The Commission will seek the assistance
of the European Regulators Group for Audio-visual Media Services, the
independent network of audio-visual regulators under the Audio-visual Media Services Directive, in monitoring the implementation of the Code in the various Member States.

Why does the Commission think that self-regulation for online platforms is the right approach to tackle the issue?

Online disinformation is a new, multi-faceted and fast developing
issue that requires immediate action. Therefore, self-regulation, if
correctly implemented, is an appropriate way for online platforms to
take swift action to tackle this problem. By comparison, a regulatory
approach would take longer to prepare and implement. Should the
self-regulatory approach fail, the Commission may propose further
actions, including regulatory ones.

What are platforms doing to avoid disinformation in the run up to the EU elections?

The online platforms which have signed the Code of Practice have
provided individual roadmaps detailing the key tools and policies they
will apply in all EU Member States ahead of the elections. These
include, for example, transparency tools for political advertising, so
that online political advertising distributed through social media is
clearly marked as such and is distinguishable from other types of
sponsored content.

The roadmaps detail each company's policies to implement the Code of
Practice, structured around five themes: advertising policies; political
advertising; service integrity; empowering consumers and empowering the
research community.

Does the Commission trust the platforms to implement the Code?

Subscription
to the Code is voluntary. However, there are growing expectations that
online platforms should not only comply with legal obligations under EU
and national laws, but also act with appropriate responsibility to
protect users from disinformation. The Commission expects the
signatories to implement the Code on a full, effective and timely basis.
To this end, the Commission will closely monitor implementation and
assess the effectiveness of the Code. The platforms should by the end of
this year provide the Commission with up-to-date and complete
information on the actions they have taken to comply with their
commitments. The Commission will publish this information in January
2019. The Commission will then make a first assessment of the
implementation of the Code at the end of the year.